Layers of Landscape: Lorraine Bubar, Peter Kempson, Brigitte Schobert

September 6 - October 1, 2011
Reception:   Saturday, September 10, 4-8pm
Artist Panel:   Saturday, September 17, 3 pm


Lorraine Bubar
Papercut Fusion 


In her new show Papercut Fusion, Lorraine Bubar offers a blueprint for the multi-layered environments that surround us. At first glance, her pieces depict scenes of Koi fish, birds, and water lilies in their natural environments. However, her papercuts reveal a deeper story. Created by children and adults in numerous cultures for diverse purposes, papercuts have crossed the boundaries of culture, art, and craft. Lorraine connects this heritage and skill through a richness of imagery and a complexity of technique. While historical papercuts were never intended to hold a permanent value, Bubar develops a decorative tradition into an artistic one. Each layer upon layer of paper adds color, form and figure, resulting in a kaleidoscope of colors, shape  and surprisingly delicate detail. Lines and shapes overlap and the scene emerges out of  texture and depth. Through the flat, two dimensional medium of paper, Bubar transforms nature into a three dimensional dynamic experience. Her papercuts become a reflection of the intricate layers of life.

Peter Kempson

Urban Landscapes: LA and Italy

In Urban Landscapes: LA and Italy, Kempson unlocks new perspectives of two environments with deeply-entrenched preconceptions. Los Angeles, often viewed as a sprawling no man’s land, is revitalized through a detailed attention to the most unexpected places such as a neglected, graffiti-ravaged back alley. Kempson animates the city in its diversity, acknowledging both the magnificence and profanity of the shiny cars, bright lights and cracking pavement. While Los Angeles may not offer the validation many seek, it remains for Kempson a flawed yet magical muse.
Italy is widely regarded as a cultural and historic mecca, but Kempson’s brushstrokes transform Venice into a modern and accessible destination. His work helps decode the mystery of the watery city and reveals the simple beauty the complex, medieval city offers. Urban Landscapes: LA and Italy not only brings new perspectives to old cities, but inextricably links them in the space between art and life.

Brigitte Schobert

Woodcuts and Monotypes

Brigitte Schobert's woodcuts of the four seasons merge the cyclical nature of life and its rituals with cyclical composition. Rounded blocks of color create pastoral landscapes inhabited by abstracted figures in motion. They participate in activities of annual events that are familiar to us in our daily lives, yet the images can as well be seen as representing the different stages of a person's life. In her new abstract prints, She explores different techniques, exchanging carved wood plates with a matrix that does not retain information when the impression is made. She achieves a balance between control and whimsy, allowing the vivid colors of oil based inks to merge in unpredictable ways, layer after layer. Her new approach is a more painterly way of printmaking than the woodcuts and demonstrates the versatility of this medium.